I’m a logo designer obsessed with how memory ties to rules — my favorite rabbit hole is the 1977 NASA Graphics Standards Manual by Danne & Blackburn; the restraint in those pages is why the worm sticks. What’s the earliest identity guideline you’ve seen that still helps a logo lodge in people’s heads?
AEG under Peter Behrens (1907–14) is my earliest — a proto manual: single monogram, custom Behrens type, and a strict grid that turned ‘one typeface, everywhere’ into a drumbeat you can’t un-hear; ref: Peter Behrens - Wikipedia. Would you count the 1916 London Underground specs in the same bucket? To get that same stickiness today, lock one display weight across your top three touchpoints for 60 days and A/B a recall prompt afterward.